31 arrested in separate boat-smuggling attempts

Thirty-one illegal immigrants who were smuggled into the United States on boats were arrested early Monday, one group in the South Bay and another at Camp Pendleton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said.

Around midnight, U.S. Border Patrol agents working with CBP officers spotted a panga, a boat commonly used in Mexico for fishing, cross the international boundary and move north along the coastline. The boat came ashore near the mouth of the Tijuana River. Passengers were let off and the boat headed back into Mexican waters.

Eleven men and two women, all Mexican nationals, were arrested, along with a man who was a citizen of Honduras.